


A Far Green Country

by KikiRose



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, M/M, Reunions, Valinor, post quest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 13:18:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KikiRose/pseuds/KikiRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is time for Samwise to sail to Valinor at last. From the giving of the Red Book to far green shores, Sam's last great journey will begin and end with Frodo Baggins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Red Book

 

The flowers Sam lay down on her grave marker were bright and colorful, reminding him of those ribbons in her hair.

            He sat there for a long while, in the lush green grass, as the warm breeze blew around him. This would be the last time he would sit at his wife’s grave, smell the sweet scent of the flowers and listen to the distant shouts and laughter and snatches of song that permeated the Shire just as strongly as the sunlight.

            “We’ve had the loveliest times together haven’t we, Miss Rosie?” Sam smiled, rubbing at his sore leg and lamenting the days where he could lift more sacks of flour than his old Gaffer and lead his master up and down the corners of Middle Earth long after Frodo had tired. He was old now, tired and spent. “I still miss you something awful, m’love.”

            He sighed, feeling quite sad all of a sudden. It was a hot spring day and somewhere inside of his home up the hill Elanor was preparing strawberries and cream for his return and soon there would be a journey to a place by the sea where his heart had once been broken. There was to be reunion. But for now, he sat by Rosie’s grave and fingered the daffodils he had laid down on the earth as tears slipped down his cheeks, faint and soft.

***

            “We ride out tomorrow, Sam-dad.” Elanor said quietly that night, sipping her tea by the hearth. The fire glinted off her golden hair in little stars. “Are you ready?”

            “I am.” Sam sighed, taking a long sip of his tea and smiling. “It will be a bit of a goodbye at the Havens, you know.”

            “You said that Uncle Pippin and Uncle Merry will be there,” Elanor smiled, “as will Lady Arwen and Lord Aragorn.”

            “Now none of this Lord and Lady nonsense,” Sam wagged his finger at her, “it’s King and Queen to you, young lady.”

            Elanor giggled, looking every inch her mother. “Oh, dad, you’re so old fashioned. Come, one more cup of tea and then it’s off to bed for both us.”

            Sam felt a strange lightness in his chest. “Not quite yet, Elanor. For I’ve one last thing to leave for you before I go.”

            His daughter perked up, the way she used to when he would come home with sweets in his pockets for her to find. Full grown with her own family and still she was just a lass to him. He was glad she would remember him like he was now, and not as a marker in the grass.

            “You wait here,” Sam said with a smile, tweaking her nose before walking slowly to the bedroom he had shared with Rosie. He opened up the chest by the bed to reveal many treasures he would not be able to carry with him on this journey. Instead, he lifted the Red Book from the cloth it rested in and held it against his chest, resting for a moment. He could still see the Book in Bilbo’s study when he was a wee tween, and then again when Frodo had poured over it those last long months before his departure.

            “It’s time, old friend.” Sam murmured to the Book, flipping open the first page to look down on the familiar writing. “Time for a new reader at last.”

            When he came back into the hearth room Elanor looked up with a surprise. She had seen Sam reading the Red Book often in her childhood, though she had never been allowed to read it. None but Rosie and her uncles had touched that book.

            “Sam-dad…” Elanor trailed off, light dancing in her eyes.

            “It’s time for you to have this, Elanor.” Sam sighed as he sat back down, wincing as his knees popped. “I always meant it to go to you.”

            “Oh,” Elanor brought her hands to her mouth, tears swimming in her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

            Sam chuckled. “Say you’ll read it, Elanor-love, and that you’ll give it to your children when they’re old enough and that they will give it to their children. Promise your old dad that the stories in this book will live on.”

            “I promise.” Elanor breathed, reaching out to take the Book from him. “Oh, how I’ll miss you though, when I can read of your adventures but not speak with you.”

            Sam gently lifted the Book out of her hands and hugged her against his chest as he had when she was a child, resting his hand on the back of her golden curls. “You have much to live for, child. Don’t cry for your Sam-dad.”

            Elanor sniffed. “I will see you again, won’t I?”

            Sam smiled, hugging her close before sitting back and tipping her chin up. “’Course you will, Elanorelle. You won’t ever be rid of me, I’d wager.”

            Elanor laughed, wiping at her tears. “And I wouldn’t want to me. Come, dad, I’ll help you to bed.”

            Sam nodded, standing up slowly and taking his daughter’s arm. She walked him to his room and he kissed her forehead gently. “I love you, Elanor.”

            “And I love you, Sam-dad.” Elanor smiled. “See you in the morning.”

            Sam watched her walk back to hearth room, most likely to retrieve the Red Book. She did not know that he would be getting up far before the sun rose to leave on his pony for the Grey Havens. He would not say goodbye to his beloved daughter at the same spot where he was parted from Frodo. He would not have her walk away from that beautiful place with the same heaviness in her heart that he had once bore.

            Instead, he wrote her a letter and left it on the pillow that Rosie had once slept on. Then he settled down for his last sleep in Bag End, dreaming of golden fields and smoke filled skies and ribbons twirling in a dance and a hand gripped in his as the world crumbled to ash.

 


	2. The Farewell

 

            The sky was a deep violet edged with cobalt, a smear of gold marking the place in the horizon where the sun would eventually rise. Sam was sad that, as he looked back over Hobbiton, the last time he would see the Shire would not be in the day. Of course it was beautiful now, with the lake reflecting the dark flush of clouds across the lightening sky and the grass a rich emerald in the muted light. But Sam had always had loved the Shire the most in the day, when everything was gold and green and warm and the sunlight was hot on the back of his neck as he dug his hands deep into the rich soil of Bag Ends garden.

            There was no goodbye fitting for his home, for the sanctuary that he had fought for so long ago, that had driven him and Frodo across Middle Earth in an effort to preserve it. So Sam simply pressed his fingers to his lips and then held them up to the sky, murmuring an Elvish blessing on the place had loved so dearly.

            He closed his eyes for a moment before turning and gently nudging his pony back into a canter. Turning his back on Hobbiton was far more difficult than he had thought it would be. But he brushed away the few tears that spilled and smiled at the road ahead.

***

            The Grey Havens were not quite a days journey away, but the sun was still low in the sky by the time Sam finally reached the outskirts of the small Elfin village. The last of the sunlight was breaking over the white rooftops of the Elves’ home, and it was beautiful in a way that had once called Sam from his bed at night to wander the woods and look at strange night-flowering plants and look for Elves and wonder at the live outside of the Shire.

            With a new lightness in his chest, he urged his pony forward and into the Grey Havens. He passed a scant amount of Elves who nodded at him, smiling their ancient smiles. Sometimes, even after all these long years, Sam still had trouble believing that the Elves knew him. Knew his story. Would call him by name as he passed.

            The sunlight was in his eyes as he neared the ocean, and as he raised his hand to shade his eyes the sight of Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippin, and Aragorn standing by the white docks greeted him.

            “Sam!” Merry grinned, looking almost as old as Sam. “Good to see you again!”

            “It’s a right family reunion.” Pippin remarked, exhaling a stream of pipesmoke with a smile.

            “Well met, Samwise Gardner.” Legolas smiled, looking not but a few years older since the breaking of the Fellowship.

            “Good to be seeing you again, Master Hobbit.” Gimli said gruffly, stroking his beard that was now laced with white.

            Aragorn inclined his head, looking more like the Rider Sam had met so long ago than the King he now was. “We hoped you would come soon. They are almost ready to leave.”

            Sam dismounted his pony, straightening up and letting the old sadness wash over him as he looked around at the pier where he had once seen Frodo sail away from him. Merry and Pippin embraced him tightly, stepping back to let him walk into the circle of what remained of the Fellowship of the Ring.

            “I’m glad they waited.” Sam said quietly, smiling up at his old companions. “Wouldn’t want to miss my chance.”

            Gimli patted his shoulder. “I trust all of your affairs are in order?”

            “Everything is as it should be.” Sam sighed. “Life goes on for all.”

            “And for you it shall as well, old friend.” Aragorn smiled at him. “I am happy to see you off today, knowing who waits to greet you.”

            “It is a fine place you sail to, Samwise.” Legolas looked out at the ocean, eyes reflecting the waves. “I know you will enjoy it immensely.”

            “A fine adventure it’s been,” Sam said quietly, turning to look at his companions with a wavering sadness in his heart. “We have seen much together, and done more’n that.”

            Gimli nodded, smiling sadly. “Aye, we have. And there are many more adventures on the horizon for all of us.”

            Sam could feel more tears stinging his eyes. “It is a terrible thing to say goodbye in this place again. I will miss you all something awful.”

            Merry sniffed, clapping him on the back. “Now, Sam, this isn’t goodbye.”

            “Merry’s right you know,” Pippin smiled, “we’ll all be seeing each other again someday.”

            “Our Fellowship is not broken yet,” Aragorn said quietly, “nor will it ever truly die.”

            “You’ve just got to go now, Sam.” Merry nodded towards the ocean. “To him, you know. Tell—tell him how much we miss him. How much we love him.”

            “I will.” Sam took a deep breath. “I’ll tell him everything.”

            One by one, they embraced. Sam breathed in their scents, of the shire of pipeweed and warm grass. Metal and smoke. The green, earthy smell of Elves. The lingering scents of Gondor’s fine halls on Aragorn’s skin. He let each and every touch they shared sink into his bones, his heart. He knew it weren’t goodbye forever, but it was goodbye for now. And that hurt well enough as it was.

            “Thank you, all of you, for everything.” Sam clasped Merry’s hands, then Pippin’s. “I don’t have words beautiful enough to say everythin’ I should about all of you.”

            “Worry not about words,” Aragorn gripped his shoulder and then stepped back, “as we are just as grateful for you as you are for us.”

            “Farewell, Samwise Gamgee.” Legolas smiled, and Sam felt his old name as if it was an old friend finally returning. “May we meet again.”

            Pippin and Merry wiped tears away and then gently turned Sam around so he was facing the boat that would whisk him away, the Elvish family who would travel with him standing on decks already.

            “It’s time to go, Sam.” Merry murmured in Sam’s ear. “It’s your time at last.”

            Sam kissed both Merry and Pippin’s brow before slowly walking towards the ship, feeling all his old aches and pains dull in the sight of the shining ocean and the ship that would bear him hence.

            _I’m coming, Mr. Frodo._ Sam smiled as he was helped onto the boat. _I’m coming for you at last._

            As the ship slowly began to pull away from the dock, Sam turned to wave at the remaining members of the Fellowship. They waved back, smiling and cheering for him.

            He was leaving Middle Earth behind. He could feel it in his bones. In that moment he saw it all laid out in front of him, pretty as a picture. The Shire that had been his glorious sun-drenched home. The deep halls of Moria. The shining spires of Rivendell, where he had sat beside Frodo’s bedside waiting desperately for him to wake. The Misty Mountains shining like a beacon. He saw the endless nights spent cold and uncomfortable, Frodo sleeping at his side and the creature Gollum lurking in the dark. He saw Mordor. Mount Doom. Felt the heat of the volcano on his face, the feel of Frodo’s hand in his has they had ran from that wretched place. Gondor, the white city. His family waiting for him in front of his smial, Rosie smiling with Elanor on her hip. Frodo wrapping his arms around Sam’s neck, face buried in the rough fabric of Sam’s cloak.

            Sam closed his eyes and breathed in the salt of the ocean, letting the smell of the ocean cleanse of him of his sadness and instead fill him with the old rush of excitement.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Big Reunion Fic i've been working on for awhile now. Chapters to come slowly but surely. Won't be long and drawn out nor will it be super quick.


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